1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a protective cover for projecting ends of rods and more particularly, to a protective cover used during construction for placement over the projecting ends of steel reinforcing bars.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, concrete structures, such as an office building or a highway overpass, include steel reinforcing bars which are placed within concrete forms prior to pouring the concrete. During construction, these steel reinforcing bars, which often are oriented in both horizontal and vertical directions, pose a safety hazard. For example, workers at grade level may be stabbed or gouged by the exposed ends of the reinforcing bars. More unfortunately, workers above grade, such as on scaffolding, may fall and become impaled on top of vertically-rising reinforcing bars.
In an attempt to reduce injury to workers, conventional safety caps, such as the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,378, have been designed to protect workers from being scraped or stabbed by the projecting ends of reinforcing bars. However, because of the greater forces involved when a worker falls onto vertically-rising reinforcement bars, conventional safety caps do not prevent a falling worker from being impaled on a reinforcing bar, or on the cap and bar itself. That is, conventional safety caps were designed only to prevent a worker from being scratched or stabbed by the sharp ends of the projecting reinforcing bar.
Realizing the dangers presented by exposed ends of reinforcing bars at a construction site and realizing that conventional safety caps do not prevent a worker from being impaled, both federal and state divisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHA) have recently proposed new safety standards requiring the use of protective covers for covering the exposed ends of reinforcing steel bars so as to prevent injury and impalement. The proposed standard provides that workers working at grade, above grade, or at any surface and exposed to reinforcing steel or other projections shall be protected against the hazard of impalement by guarding the exposed protruding end of the reinforcing bar with a protective cover. The OSHA standard requires that the protective cover be made of wood, plastic, or any similar material, and should be capable of withstanding, at a minimum, the impact of a 250-pound weight dropped from a height of 10 feet without penetration failure of the cover, and that the surface area of the protective cover shall be a minimum of a 4".times.4"-square surface area. This proposed OSHA standard for protective covers is believed to provide substantial protection for workers at a construction site. Heretofore, conventional safety caps do not meet the new OSHA standard.